Good Computer Science Schools

[colecifer]

I've seen a couple of threads regarding computer science and college lately and it got me thinking about things, i did a search of the forum and didn't find anything that really answered my questions. Right now i'm thinking about going to KU because it is relatively close and would have reasonable tuition seing how i'm instate. I'm very interested in either computer science or computer engineering and i was just checking out the KU school of engineering. One thing i was wondering was if KU is regarded as a good school to get your degree from or thought to be low down on the list. Here is a brief summary of what i've done in school so far if you think that influences my chances at any schools you know of.

I currently have around a 4.2 GPA because my school gives honors/ap classes inflated ratings. I've taken English 9, World Geography, Foods, Topics in computer science, Geometry H, Health, Gym, Spanish 1, Physical Science(basic science class of half chemisty/half physics, Computer Applications, English 10, World history, Biology 1 H, Tech investigations, Progamming in Java(basic and Advanced), Spanish 2, Algebra 2 H

I've planned to stop taking spanish now and won't be moving to spanish 3 junior year(next year), i'll be taking 2 honors classes, 2 ap classes, and chemistry(no honors available at my school)

If you need more info just ask, i just am starting to think about college and the only schools i can think of right now are state schools.

[thefultonhow]

First of all, you should probably continue through Spanish III -- good colleges like to see three years of foreign language.

In terms of good CS schools, the top three every year are MIT, Caltech, and UC Berkley. If you don't want to deal with a spercompetitive admissions process, a lot of the state schools have excellent programs. I have heard that University of Washington has a very good one.

However, you sound like you're a pretty well-rounded student, so I would encourage you to choose a school based not on the strength of a particular program, but rather on the strength of the school as a whole. Out in your area, Northwestern, UChicago, WashU, and University of Michigan are all very good. You might also want to consider Johns Hopkins, Rice, and Carnegie-Mellon if you're willing to move farther afield -- Carnegie-Mellon in particular has a good CS program as well as being a well-rounded college. Of course, there are also the Ivies, but those are slightly more competitive -- though with your grades,why not throw a few of those into the mix too just to see if you get in?

[nocturnx]

Yep I took 2 years of french in high school and then when i got to college I had to take another which is a pain. I wish i would have just taken another year of french in high school, but I just took french culture which counted heh. MIT has probly the best CS program in the nation, I toured UC Berkley and didnt care for it, didnt really like the atmosphere and campus too much. Most State Universitys are gonna have good CS programs and are always cheaper than Ivys or private schools of course, if thats even an issue to you.

[james8547]

MIT is the master jedi of all comp sci colleges. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute also ranks up high there.

Your classes and GPA look good. However, be sure you have something that shows "resiliency and conquering adversity." It's a good topic for a college essay and I'm almost certain that this topic would pop up in the college interview.

[sdkfz]

There are several other UC campus's ranked in the top, you might want to consider either-

going for one of them and staying there till completion
going there and then transfer inside the system to UCB

here is a listing I googled

http://www.greguide.com/comps.html

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by james8547 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute also ranks up high there.

The question is whether you'd want to go there. Troy, NY is a cruddy little town, the campus is ugly, and The Ratio is terrible -- 75:25. My tour guide there explained that this was okay, though, because "2/3 of the guys sit in their rooms on the weekends, which makes the ratio more like 50:50." Yeah, right.

[Floppyman]

I doubt the ratio is much better at MIT,probably worse. But don't let that keep you from applying there.

[james8547]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow The question is whether you'd want to go there. Troy, NY is a cruddy little town, the campus is ugly, and The Ratio is terrible -- 75:25. My tour guide there explained that this was okay, though, because "2/3 of the guys sit in their rooms on the weekends, which makes the ratio more like 50:50." Yeah, right.

It depends on what you look for in a college. RPI isn't known for it's girls, partying, and beer. He is looking for a good comp sci university. Besides, there's not a lot of females majoring in comp. sci. (based on my previous classes). There's usually only 1 or 2 of them This is the only reason why I changed to Accounting after 2 yrs (jk). I couldn't take it anymore

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by james8547 It depends on what you look for in a college. RPI isn't known for it's girls, partying, and beer. He is looking for a good comp sci university. Besides, there's not a lot of females majoring in comp. sci. (based on my previous classes). There's usually only 1 or 2 of them This is the only reason why I changed to Accounting after 2 yrs (jk). I couldn't take it anymore

I think my point is more, why would you go to a school with the characteristics I mentioned when there are so many other good options?

[colecifer]

Thank you for all of your replies. I'll probably go ahead and take a third year of spanish just in case a college wants it. Out of curiousity would it be considered weird if i didn't take spanish junior year and then picked it up again senior year? I'll try not to do this but i've had some problems with counseling office before. I don't think they'll make a big deal out of this though because how can they refuse to change me when i tell them i might need it to get into college? Anyways just wondering. I'm still not sure where all i'll apply but i'll definetely be sending an application into MIT just in case. Even if i got in i probably wouldn't be able to pay for it, but it'd be cool to say i got in there.

Originally Posted by james8547 Your classes and GPA look good. However, be sure you have something that shows "resiliency and conquering adversity." It's a good topic for a college essay and I'm almost certain that this topic would pop up in the college interview.

The only thing i can think of off the top of my head for a topic on triumphing over adversity and showing resiliency is cross country. I've run cross country two years now and plan on doing it another two. Every race in cross country forces you to be resilient, in 5k it would be easy to just stop when you start feeling crappy and you want to throw up, but i've never done that i've finished every race i've started. I know thats real brief but would something like that work, or do they ususally look for something more serious?

[Jaggannath]

Something more meaningful I'd suggest, more mental strength rather than physical. Has anything that emotionally upset you happened, and if so how did you adapt and overcome

[colecifer]

i'll be thinking about it, but i really don't have anything off the top of my head.

[LA22]

I live in rochester, NY. And the best Technology school I think on our state is RIT.
http://www.rit.edu/~gccis/
http://www.rit.edu/
Look around to see if it offers what you want.
Has anyone ever heard of it?

Oh yeah R.I.T stands for Rochester Institute of Technology

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by LA22 Has anyone ever heard of it?

Yep, my best friend applied there this year. He ended up deciding to go to Penn State though, because their IST program was exactly what he wanted to do.

[Floppyman]

IST? Information Services Technology? TIA.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Floppyman IST? Information Services Technology? TIA.

Information Science and Technology. It's a more-technical Information Systems without the business aspect.